Improved clothes-drier



PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. HOUGHTON, OF LYME, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVED CLOTHES-omas.

Specication `forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,375. dated May 27, 1862.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. HOUGHTON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lyme, inthe county of Grafton and State I of New Hampshire, have invent-cda new and useful Improvement in Olothes-Driers; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specicatiomand represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 denotes a `top view, and Fig. 2 a front elevation,`of a clothes-drier provided with my invention. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken through one of its arms. Fig. 4 is a side view,and Fig. 5 a bottom view,of the hub. The drier, of itself, like many others in use, has a series-of arms, A `A A A, projecting from a-hub, B, which is supported by and so as to be capable of freely rotating on a pin or spindle, a, projecting upward from the top of a post, G, lines being rove through the arms, as shown in the drawings, and for the purpose 0f giving support yto clothes or other articles to be dried.

My improvement relates especially to the hub of the clothes-drier;` and it consists in making such hub with a peculiar arrangement of iron sockets On the same, and brace-bearers constructed and disposed as hereinafter specified; also in combining with the hub a series of movable braces applied to the arms, as hereinafter explained.

The hub is a cubical Or prismatic block or `box having an arm-socket, b, arranged against each of its vertical sides. The bottom of the arm-socket may be entirely open,or it may be partially closed, as shown in the drawings. (See Figs. 3 and 5.) The rear portion of the upper partof the socket is closed, as seen at c, and on it there rises a brace-bearer or buttress, d. Each socket is alike, is provided with a buttress or brace-bearer, and is intended to receive one of the arms A A A A, which extends into `such socket, and is kept therein by means of a pin or fulcrnm, e, which goes through the socket and arm transversely and so that the arm may be capable of being turned upward in a vertical direction and On the pin. The Object of hinging the arms to the hub is to enable such arms to be turned upward into vertical or nearly vertical positions, and in a manner to render the removable part of the drier capable of occupying a much less space than when the arms are nearly horizontal. Each arm is provided with a metallic brace, D, which is applied to the arm by a'screw, f, which goes through the brace and screws into the arm, the whole being so that the brace may be turned about on the screw and either against or away from the adjacent side of the brace-bearer of the socket of the arm. The braces and their bearers serve to maintain the arm in its lowest position under the contractile strain Of the lines g g, which are rove through the several arms. They also prevent the arms from being thrown upward by the action of the wind on any clothes when hanging from any of the lines g g.

Aprismatic hub having the arm-sockets arranged on its sides or faces is far preferable to ar cylindrical or round hub or any other whose arm-sockets radiate from a common center, as generally it can be madestronger and thereby afi'ord better support to the arms.

I claim as my improvementl. In the clothes-drying machine, the prismatic hub as made with its arm-socketson the same and bracebuttresses, constructed and arranged substantially as specified.

2.' In combination with the hub so made and with the arms applied to it, as described, the series of braces applied to the arms respectively and substantially inpmanner and so as to operate as described.

HENRY A. HOUGHTON.

Witnesses:

HENRY MORRISON, ANNALINE MORRISON. 

